Descriptions, field collections
Identify species shifts now occurring in the greater GoM kelp forest ecosystem, elucidate the putative causes of these shifts, and develop predictive models to forecast geographic range shifts among native and non-native taxa. This goal will be achieved by (a) comparatively studying kelp forests that span from the warm leading edge to the core of forest distribution in the region, (b) employing controlled field experiments, and (c) using computational approaches including statistical models, network analyses, and machine learning.